Summer. Though it doesn't officially begin until June 21, it begins early, and unofficially, with Memorial Day and ends early with Labor Day. Two holidays that too easily become associated with three day flankings of summer and without a true understanding or honoring of spirit of the holiday.
While leaving my neighborhood to meet the other transport volunteer coming from Williamsburg, I ran over a neighbor's dog. I did not know the neighbor nor the dog. I'm a careful driver, and the only dog that I have ever run over is my own. She was a miniature poodle that came running out on dark rainy evening. Something she had done a hundred times before, but somehow she ended up under my front wheel. The anguish that I felt in hitting this lovely dog was no less. At least she was killed instantly, and I can say in all honestly, there is not another driver out there that could have avoided the outcome. She came flying out of a wooden fence enclosure (intent on chasing/confronting whatever vehicle she heard) where there are tractors housed (so I had no chance of seeing her movement sooner nor even anticipating that an animal would dart out). She then stopped right in front of me. There was no place to go, and veering right or left would have had a more noxious and gory outcome as she would have been pressed beneath a wheel.
There I was kneeling beside this jumbled body sobbing in anguish, " No, no, no." The owner obviously heard me and the nature of my lament would have been unmistakable. He came out, knelt on the other side of her. After a minute, he straightened her out and said, "This is going to be very hard for them." He offered some comfort to me, as he was overcome as well. He picked her up, and carried her across the street to her home.
I left to meet my transport. I was so overcome (and I'm generally pretty calm during disasters), but I was deeply shaken. I managed my transport--a beautiful Brittany named Phoebe. But I ended up with a stress induced headache and a general sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that did not abate until yesterday. The irony of the day did not escape me. Dogs, cats and children are no match for a car--and try as we might, those cruel intersections of time and space create grievous emotional wounds.
I stopped by the home of the dog later, but they were not home. I went home and wrote a heartfelt note and delivered a basket of flowers. In my note, I mentioned that I wished I could have turned back the hands of time and expressed all of my heartfelt sadness--knowing their own sadness would be amplified even more so. I also mentioned that I wished I had known her name to mention it in my letter. I put my e-mail address on the letter. I received a kind acknowledgment of the note and the flowers, as well as their concern for my own feelings. Her name was Roxy, and they had 8 good years with her. Their note back meant much to me.
With Memorial Day, the names of the fallen should also be known. I had the opportunity to watch "Taking Chance:" It is not a movie I had seen before, and Kevin Bacon plays the lead character beautifully. It was a fitting movie to see on this weekend of remembrance. The movie is based on a true story. Rather than my telling you about it, you can read about it here. I hope that you'll take a minute to do so. And if you have a chance to see the movie, I think that your time will be rewarded.
Our fallen warriors and our workers on whose sweat 'stuff gets done'...they bookmark the time of the year where procreation and recreation fill the long days. I've not looked at one stock chart this weekend, and I'm happy for that.
Showing posts with label musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musings. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Real Estate Woes
My daughter is ready to spread her wings and purchase a home. She had an offer in on one Fannie Mae home. She had quite a saga. She pre-qualified for a loan. Found a home. Made an offer. Verbally said yes. Then said best and final. Then copper was stolen from home. She was strong armed to pay for 1/2. Financing became difficult due to property age and new underwriting standards. Owner couldn't wait 48 more hours for my daughter to get the second financing secured (she had verbals that the next lender would underwrite). My daughter's offer was 15k more than the offer taken. She was treated pretty shabbily for being a first time home buyer. She learned a few lessons.
While it was a neat, old property, there were some real issues with it. In preparing it for sale, the painters just scraped all of the lead-based paint off and let it collect around the perimeter of the home. All of the windows were oversprayed on both the inside and out. The windows were painted shut, and the kitchen cabinets were rolled--doors shut and all of the hardware covered in paint. But he property was charming, and she was willing to remediate those items. She was heartbroken when it fell through.
To be fair, they did ask her to give them a $2K non-refundable deposit. It was a pretty crappy thing to ask for, because she had already agreed to pay 1/2 for their plumbing mishap (when she had no legal requirement to do so). She also fixed 11 panes of glass to satisfy her underwriter to meet the deadline. Otherwise, they would have piddled about and likely made her pay for 1/2 of some exorbitant price. Oh well...the new owners have at least 11 panes of glass that have no overspray. She didn't give it to them because she had no way of controlling what the new underwriter would opine even though they had verbally said it looked doable. It looked doable to the other one too! She's not in a position to lose $2K to the whims of the mortgage gods. She said no, resubmitted her offer in 48 hours when she got a yes in writing and gave them the $2K non-refundable. Too late---they had settled for $15K less. Sigh....
There is no shortage of homes available. My daughter is moving onto other properties. I've been in research mode, having not visited real estate too much since my exhaustive work back in 10-2006 and throughout 2007. I used to keep a list of the trustee sales on each Friday. It was an informal way of chronicling the snowball of foreclosures. I used to split the note amounts between < than and > than $90K. At first the foreclosures were mostly in the lower range, and then they moved higher.
Now, it has been a while since I tiptoed into that work. But the real madness in escalating home prices began in 2005 and continued through 2009. The snapshot to the left shows the issue that I'm seeing quite starkly--that any poor schmuck that bought a home in 2007-2009 is potentially underwater. This home is assessed at $315K, but Fannie Mae took a fanny-whacking and has a note of $458K--the assessment is not even 70% of the note that was taken back. In fairness, the home is listed at $255K and will likely make a nice purchase for someone.
However, I'm seeing plenty of Fannie Mae homes that are listed higher than the assessment. Good luck with that. There are sublime homes, and there are "oh-my-god-can-you-live-in-that homes". Assessments kept up with the madness. Here's a look at an assessment history that is the norm for newly built homes.
No fun paying $569,835 for a home that now sports an assessment of $437,600. While the absolute numbers above are not representative (that happens to be an expensive property), the relative relationship between assessments and purchase price is representative.
For one nearby county, here is the history in a lovely middle-class neighborhood that is represented by attractive homes on large lots.
When we ask the question, "When is the bottom in real estate?" I would hazard a guess that the answer is nested in an assessment table. If we were in the froth in 2007-2009, I've got to believe that it is somewhere in the 2003-2005 valuation area. But that is a guess, hazardous or otherwise. An average of those assessments puts us at about 69% of current assessed values.
If you have voyeuristic tendencies as I do yet don't know where to look, you can peruse the Fannie Mae listings in your area by going to http://www.homepath.com/ Select your state and the city/county that you are interested in.
I also dug up an old study that I did when I was convinced that this was never about subprime but rather something larger. Simply put, all housing had been bid up in a way that it outstripped earnings. And for lenders to lend, they had to come up with fanciful (and fruitcakesque) ways to lend money. Here's my little nebbish chart.
It was my grand ah-hah! I still believe that this big ball will get unwound further.
The other thing that I'm seeing are homes coming onto the market as part of estate settlements. These are homes where the carpet is old, bathrooms are gross, kitchens sorely in need of updating, peeling paint, rotten trim, roof rot and HVAC repairs. These are not homes that can get financed through FHA due to their requirements AND these are homes where there is not much available money from cash-strapped heirs. On top of our current stressors, we have the bolus of older folks who are dying and leaving behind homes that are nearly uninhabitable. (I'm talking about ordinary middle-class folks, and not the monied class).
I'm not really posing any questions, and I surely have no answers, but these are 'things' to ruminate upon and think about how their dynamics will shape our current woes.
While it was a neat, old property, there were some real issues with it. In preparing it for sale, the painters just scraped all of the lead-based paint off and let it collect around the perimeter of the home. All of the windows were oversprayed on both the inside and out. The windows were painted shut, and the kitchen cabinets were rolled--doors shut and all of the hardware covered in paint. But he property was charming, and she was willing to remediate those items. She was heartbroken when it fell through.
To be fair, they did ask her to give them a $2K non-refundable deposit. It was a pretty crappy thing to ask for, because she had already agreed to pay 1/2 for their plumbing mishap (when she had no legal requirement to do so). She also fixed 11 panes of glass to satisfy her underwriter to meet the deadline. Otherwise, they would have piddled about and likely made her pay for 1/2 of some exorbitant price. Oh well...the new owners have at least 11 panes of glass that have no overspray. She didn't give it to them because she had no way of controlling what the new underwriter would opine even though they had verbally said it looked doable. It looked doable to the other one too! She's not in a position to lose $2K to the whims of the mortgage gods. She said no, resubmitted her offer in 48 hours when she got a yes in writing and gave them the $2K non-refundable. Too late---they had settled for $15K less. Sigh....
There is no shortage of homes available. My daughter is moving onto other properties. I've been in research mode, having not visited real estate too much since my exhaustive work back in 10-2006 and throughout 2007. I used to keep a list of the trustee sales on each Friday. It was an informal way of chronicling the snowball of foreclosures. I used to split the note amounts between < than and > than $90K. At first the foreclosures were mostly in the lower range, and then they moved higher.
Now, it has been a while since I tiptoed into that work. But the real madness in escalating home prices began in 2005 and continued through 2009. The snapshot to the left shows the issue that I'm seeing quite starkly--that any poor schmuck that bought a home in 2007-2009 is potentially underwater. This home is assessed at $315K, but Fannie Mae took a fanny-whacking and has a note of $458K--the assessment is not even 70% of the note that was taken back. In fairness, the home is listed at $255K and will likely make a nice purchase for someone.
However, I'm seeing plenty of Fannie Mae homes that are listed higher than the assessment. Good luck with that. There are sublime homes, and there are "oh-my-god-can-you-live-in-that homes". Assessments kept up with the madness. Here's a look at an assessment history that is the norm for newly built homes.
For one nearby county, here is the history in a lovely middle-class neighborhood that is represented by attractive homes on large lots.
When we ask the question, "When is the bottom in real estate?" I would hazard a guess that the answer is nested in an assessment table. If we were in the froth in 2007-2009, I've got to believe that it is somewhere in the 2003-2005 valuation area. But that is a guess, hazardous or otherwise. An average of those assessments puts us at about 69% of current assessed values.
If you have voyeuristic tendencies as I do yet don't know where to look, you can peruse the Fannie Mae listings in your area by going to http://www.homepath.com/ Select your state and the city/county that you are interested in.
I also dug up an old study that I did when I was convinced that this was never about subprime but rather something larger. Simply put, all housing had been bid up in a way that it outstripped earnings. And for lenders to lend, they had to come up with fanciful (and fruitcakesque) ways to lend money. Here's my little nebbish chart.
It was my grand ah-hah! I still believe that this big ball will get unwound further.
The other thing that I'm seeing are homes coming onto the market as part of estate settlements. These are homes where the carpet is old, bathrooms are gross, kitchens sorely in need of updating, peeling paint, rotten trim, roof rot and HVAC repairs. These are not homes that can get financed through FHA due to their requirements AND these are homes where there is not much available money from cash-strapped heirs. On top of our current stressors, we have the bolus of older folks who are dying and leaving behind homes that are nearly uninhabitable. (I'm talking about ordinary middle-class folks, and not the monied class).
I'm not really posing any questions, and I surely have no answers, but these are 'things' to ruminate upon and think about how their dynamics will shape our current woes.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Colleagueship
With Mark Haines' recent passing, CNBC reporters spent yesterday remembering their colleague. It was a visceral reminder of the importance of the binds that tie us. My last group of colleagues used to make fun of me a bit in the reverential way in which I regarded colleagueship. Yesterday's tribute to Mark Haines by his colleagues was a reminder that I'm not in a minority.
Good colleagues anchor us when we need to be grounded and push us to step in the tenuous ground of the unknown. They laud our talents and tactfully help us reflect on our lesser traits. They have our back and are not looking for a tactical place to insert a dagger. The very best thing that we can have in our work lives are true colleagues. They are often our true friends, too.
Yesterday's remembrances of Mark Haines' rich legacy at CNBC was a reminder of the importance of colleagueship. Colleagueship is both the personal and the collective. It does not exist without individuals who embrace that grand ideal of "all for one and one for all." Yesterday's remembrances demonstrated how much purchase in practical life a grand ideal such as colleagueship can gain on the slippery slope of workplace dynamics.
Colleagueship should not be relegated just to our off-line lives. Though one not oft-practiced; it is a useful ideal in on-line life as well. On-line life gives us a chance to express our opinions no matter how sublime or noxious. We can instantly vote up or down on just about anything. Being able to say something is not the same thing as having something (of merit) to say--I suppose that is the difference between blather and discourse, and I'm quite sure that there could be several indictments against me on the former.
As part of our on-going professional growth, cultivating the quality of our colleagueship in our on-line and off-line venues is a worthy endeavor.
Good colleagues anchor us when we need to be grounded and push us to step in the tenuous ground of the unknown. They laud our talents and tactfully help us reflect on our lesser traits. They have our back and are not looking for a tactical place to insert a dagger. The very best thing that we can have in our work lives are true colleagues. They are often our true friends, too.
Yesterday's remembrances of Mark Haines' rich legacy at CNBC was a reminder of the importance of colleagueship. Colleagueship is both the personal and the collective. It does not exist without individuals who embrace that grand ideal of "all for one and one for all." Yesterday's remembrances demonstrated how much purchase in practical life a grand ideal such as colleagueship can gain on the slippery slope of workplace dynamics.
Colleagueship should not be relegated just to our off-line lives. Though one not oft-practiced; it is a useful ideal in on-line life as well. On-line life gives us a chance to express our opinions no matter how sublime or noxious. We can instantly vote up or down on just about anything. Being able to say something is not the same thing as having something (of merit) to say--I suppose that is the difference between blather and discourse, and I'm quite sure that there could be several indictments against me on the former.
As part of our on-going professional growth, cultivating the quality of our colleagueship in our on-line and off-line venues is a worthy endeavor.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Winter Wonderland
The snow is still coming down. Always a special type of quiet. The dogs went out for a romp. How they love the snow. Bird feeders make good (though unintentional) sport for bird dogs. I finally had to bring Daisey in. She had ice balls on her feet, sides and her legs.
The birds are a bit frantic. We have grackles (or blackbirds, I cannot tell which) that have come in in droves. They are not molesting the other birds, so everyone has something to eat. Daisey was making the rounds to the three feeders, yipping and having a big time. The feeders are far enough apart and she makes enough noise that the birds eat just fine. We have juncos, tufted tit mice, mourning doves, purple finches, gold finches (though not gold yet), cardinals, downey woodpeckers, and nut hatches. However, once she hunkered down in the snow at one feeder, it was time for her to be herded inside. She and the birds needed a break.
I needed a break too. It is cold out. I shoveled the sidewalk this morning. Mark was out with the snow plow on the Wheelhorse. He's been working on that a couple of days, so it was good to give it a maiden run. I cleaned the vehicles off. With holiday prep, I'm severely off my exercise regimen. Tromping through the snow, shoveling and sweeping was good energy expenditure. With all the holiday meals and temptations (that I've not bothered to resist), my energy cup overfloweth...so energy expenditure is a good thing.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Perplexed? Flummoxed! Creating a No Dithering Zone
You can tell by the title this is going to be a mish-mash post!
I was thinking over the weekend how far I have come in understanding the markets better. I have put in quite a bit of seat time and have paid a handsome tuition (sometimes repeating a class) to learn the market's lessons. I'm still learning, and my tuition is much cheaper! I was pondering about whether or not I had actually outgrown the name of my blog (a notion quickly dispelled this weekend in looking at my chart books!).
First, an aside. Beginning this endeavor to understand the markets has taken me down the road that started with being unconsciously incompetent. While unconscious incompetence in driving can cause great harm to one's body, such a state in undertaking the markets can cause a little corporeal damage to the portfolio.
There is a terrific article at Market Masters (and other great stuff worth reading) that talks about the 4 stages of competence from a trading perspective.
I think I'm a 2.75 on that scale. Over the weekend, I was reminded how aptly named my blog is. As I was going through my detailed subsector report, I found a bushel of sectors above their pre-crash highs:
Besides finding a way to complain while giving you that list of sectors, that project of sitting down on Sunday by the fire with my book of charts reminded me of another important lesson. (Can you tell I'm in a reflective mood?). Naturally I have to yammer a bit before stating the lesson.
In 2009, the day after Thanksgiving, I elected to do a sector study of gold miners. I spent the entire day looking at charts and profiles of miners. I believed that they had bottomed. What did I do? I dithered. I've come to believe that nothing is more dangerous than dithering. I'll devote an entire post to dithering, so I'll spare you having to trudge through more words on this. But there are a couple of points to close with:
I want to close with a quote from George Soros that I keep under my "Wisdom" tab. It is something worth remembering when what we 'know' v. what we 'see' are at odds.
I was thinking over the weekend how far I have come in understanding the markets better. I have put in quite a bit of seat time and have paid a handsome tuition (sometimes repeating a class) to learn the market's lessons. I'm still learning, and my tuition is much cheaper! I was pondering about whether or not I had actually outgrown the name of my blog (a notion quickly dispelled this weekend in looking at my chart books!).
First, an aside. Beginning this endeavor to understand the markets has taken me down the road that started with being unconsciously incompetent. While unconscious incompetence in driving can cause great harm to one's body, such a state in undertaking the markets can cause a little corporeal damage to the portfolio.
There is a terrific article at Market Masters (and other great stuff worth reading) that talks about the 4 stages of competence from a trading perspective.
- Unconscious Incompetence
- Conscious Incompetence
- Conscious Competence
- Unconscious Competence
I think I'm a 2.75 on that scale. Over the weekend, I was reminded how aptly named my blog is. As I was going through my detailed subsector report, I found a bushel of sectors above their pre-crash highs:
- Apparel makers
- Clothing and accessories
- Broad line retailers
- Commercial vehicles and trucks
- Computer hardware
- Electronic equipment
- FOOTWEAR!!!!
- Industrial Engineering, machinery, suppliers, transportation (4 sectors)
- Personal goods
- Railroads
- Restaurants and bars
- Specialty chemicals
- Specialty retailers
- Tobacco
- Travel and Leisure
- Trucking
- Tourism
- Trucking
- Waste disposal
Besides finding a way to complain while giving you that list of sectors, that project of sitting down on Sunday by the fire with my book of charts reminded me of another important lesson. (Can you tell I'm in a reflective mood?). Naturally I have to yammer a bit before stating the lesson.
In 2009, the day after Thanksgiving, I elected to do a sector study of gold miners. I spent the entire day looking at charts and profiles of miners. I believed that they had bottomed. What did I do? I dithered. I've come to believe that nothing is more dangerous than dithering. I'll devote an entire post to dithering, so I'll spare you having to trudge through more words on this. But there are a couple of points to close with:
- The charts DO tell us what the price action is over time. And the sectors' price action in relation to others tell us where money is going. Our job is ultimately to put our money in places where it will increase.
- Price action is neither valid or invalid relative to our opinion about it--it just is. We either choose to cultivate habits that (1) allow us to discover such price action (our research) and (2) act in accordance with the evidential matter, or we choose to dither.
- Dithering is not a helpful trait. We must remember that the market will not pay us for NOT taking a risk. Seeing constructive price and volume action and responding by dithering because (1) the action is not in accord with our opinion, and/or (2) we want more information, more certainty, more people supporting our decision means that we've given up opportunity for 'certainty'. In fact, that means that we have increased the risk in our position as whatever news we were waiting for is also commonly known and likely priced in.
I want to close with a quote from George Soros that I keep under my "Wisdom" tab. It is something worth remembering when what we 'know' v. what we 'see' are at odds.
“Economic history is a never-ending series of
episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the
path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise
is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited."
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Post Cards from the Edge: Market Shamanism
This post is a re-tread from my blog. I posted this originally in April, 2008. This represents a generic piece that I wrote to ground my thinking. With some much editing, I thought that it might be a nice piece to share particularly in light of Tim Knight's recent post, though I've been trying to re-edit this thing for a while. I apologize for the length. The genesis of this post was from a reader's comment about what to follow to divine stock market movement--on what basis are we to judge the direction of the market?
As market participants and technicians, we are shaman-like in our quest for determining stock market direction. Our technician's tools are our talismans: we shake, rattle and roll the various chicken bones we lovingly call our indicators; we raise our moistened finger to see which way the wind blows; and we gaze wistfully to the horizon to see whether the clouds are fair or foul. To supplement our efforts, we look thoughtfully upon the past and what the ancients said and thought. Market Shamans... a strange, but apt, metaphor I think for our attempts at market divination.
Carlos Castaneda went on a peyote-inspired walk through the desert with his eyes crossed to find "truth" somewhere in the field of his overlapping vision. Technicians employ a number of means to do the same. The complexity of the layering of divination tools (a/k/a indicators) combined with sentiment, insider buying/selling, cycles, eclipses, and Mercury retrogrades! has the capacity to produce conflicting signals leaving one standing in the desert of indecision with one's eyes permanently crossed (just as our mothers warned). Perhaps there is a chicken bone or two poking a hole in one's pocket or in a tender area (or two!). I'm not arguing against these technical talismans, but rather cautioning that at some point one saturates oneself with so much information that it is an overload and may not produce clear signals for action. Esoterica, while pleasingly seductive, can occlude our vision.
Nevertheless, that desert is one that every technician/trader must wander. And while 40 days is significant in religious texts, aspiring market technicians will need more than 40 days of quality desert time to cultivate their skills and develop their insights. Insight. Think about that word for a moment (courtesy of Dictionary.com), and I'll get back to it upon the close.
There are many systems, simple and complex, that a technician can avail her/himself to. Oftentimes, there is a sense that the more complex and esoteric a system is, the more accurate it must be. We expect our prophets of market direction to have access to a powerful knowledge that is not in the hands of us mere mortals. The only esoterica worth understanding is that markets follow not so much reality but the perceptions of reality by market participants evidenced by the each day's volume and price prints. We know that there is a large disconnect between the two. If our technical tools are applied to fickle perceptions, how can we expect, much less demand, precision--both of which are voiced frequently? Our modern tools developed for MEASURING historical market data, do not have any power for FORECASTING market direction. It is for us to have an understanding of what the probabilities are of one direction over another. And while there may be a 75% probability of x happening over why, there is a 100% probability that only one of them will happen.
I believe that money, like water, seeks its own level though there may be wide swaths of disparity for uncertain durations. I believe that the following things matter a great deal: macro economics, an understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic value in stocks, business/debt cycles, and market participant psychology as well as our own psychology. The market, as with ourselves, is trying to divine the future. It uses its own talismans, technical, fundamental, sentiment all cobbled together to form some sort of roadmap. It does not have all that great a record at forecasting or pricing accurately, but it is constantly seeking price discovery. It is voracious in gorging on a steady diet of news--some of which gets digested easily, and some of which results in a smelly gastronomical event that defines our significant bear markets.
Our market participants are all manner of smart, experienced and successful folks: inflationistas, deflationistas, bond vigilantes, gold bugs, bulls, bears, value investors and contrarians, each believing that they have some special understanding that others simply don't get. Realistically, they cannot all be right at the same time. Ultimately as technicians, in the purist sense, we are merely spotting the consequences of their money actions v. their espoused opinion by noting three things on which we can incontrovertibly rely: quantity and allocation over time.
Strong trends get weak and weak trends get strong depending on a number of quantitative and qualitative factors--none of which we have control over. Nevertheless, some still demand that our charts forecast the future. When the future 'promised' by a chart set up evaporates, there is a broad lament (by those who are caught wrong-footed), "Technical analysis has failed." It is not that technical analysis, but rather that we have failed in our understanding of its limits. But even though limited, technical analysis has a great power. I believe that power lies in giving us a means to cultivate our market insight.
Technical analysis is the language (or music if you are more romantically inclined) of the stock market. Justin Mamis tells us that the market is always talking to us, we merely have to understand what it is saying. Our technical indicators--our understanding and application of them--help us tune into the market. For any of you who have built a complex worksheet model, you understand that having to reduce something to complex to a mathematical model requires you to really understand your subject and the underlying interrelationships among the parts. An artist 'sees' what many of us do not see. Try to draw (or photograph) your cat or dog. I guarantee you that you will 'see' your subject differently. Therefore, our indicators are not predictive tools, but our venue for gaining insight. It's through the application of our tools that we 'see' what the market or our stock are doing. It is through our experience with this careful application, our missteps, mismanagement, and success that we build insight. While the tools (mechanics) are the same for everyone (just as a camera, hammer/chisel, paintbrush are the same for all artists), the results of their application will vary. In other words, it is what WE bring to those tools that determines our level of success.
I used the shaman metaphor because of its ancient tradition of knowledge and insight. A shaman is very much in tune with the world in which s/he operates and understands well the journey through the desert. That journey confers knowledge and insight (wisdom). There are no shortcuts. Ultimately we need to ensure that our own eyes are not too crossed or our talismans too many and too contradictory that we cannot see the perils in the desert. And in most traditions, to truly see, one must first look within.
We are generally the impediment to whatever we are trying to accomplish in our lives (work, relationships, school) . Selecting our tools, understanding their use and limitations, practicing
Saturday, March 22, 2008
More Blog Technical Stuff
To get any of these "background" images to show, you have to create and upload the image. The "home" and "about" buttons are created "background images". The sand in the very background is an uploaded image, as are the sidebar headers, the title and the date header backgrounds.
You have to ensure that the image matches the expanse--height and width. Otherwise, it repeats (though you can tell it not to) or truncates. You probably do not care, but it's a bit interesting to understand what is under the hood when you look ant someone's blog.
I've one more thing to add to the blog--and that is a tabbed menu. I'm not quite ready to tackle it yet. Adding the "home" and "about" buttons required some synapses burning. Anyone who makes their living doing this stuff surely has to laugh. I don't suppose it is really that hard, but when you approach it haphazardly, it ain't so easy!
I watched today Harold and Maude. I've never seen it before. How funny to hear the Cat Steven's music. My brother had all of his music (and that of The Doors). I can still recall the lyrics to every tune for both. Interesting how music/lyrics are so easily burned on the brain. We take music on demand for granted. I think about hearing a favorite song and imagine being born during the time of Mozart, Liszt, Beethoven, Wagner or any of the other greats. You might hear a song a dozen or so times in your lifetime (if that unless you were wealthy).
I also watched last night (my husband had a neighbor visitor last evening, so I seemed to be on my own, which was fine. I always find things to do), Fur, an imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus.
I cannot really say if I really liked it. I do think that Nicole Kidman is a very gifted actress. I saw her recently in To Die For . I thought it a wonderful black comedy when I saw it before.
As part of my "Connessione" practice, I've been routinely researching the movies/TV shows that I watch to understand more about either the topic and/or the actors. I'm not a celebrity follower in the least. And perhaps my even saying that I'm doing this is causing a chuckle or two among readers. But, I've found by doing so, I'm enriching my experience rather than just watching something without awareness.
Speaking of awareness, our next book club selection is: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (Author) . Perhaps after reading this book I may go off to join the circus. I don't know that our last selection, Water for Elephants, was well received by other members. I really enjoyed the book, though others felt that it was too romanticized. I cannot quibble with that assertion However, given the gravity of the reading that the club as well as myself were doing, it seemed to be an oasis of entertainment. I think, too, that given my lack of mobility and my frustration with my physical limitations--in addition to the real danger of falling that traveling one's ordinary courses brings while navigating on crutches--reading about an elderly man's own struggle with gnarled hands, weak legs and wobbly balance was something that I identified with in a very intimate way.
I've mentioned here before what an eye-opener it has been to have to fall upon the support of arms and remaining leg to bear up under additional duress due to an injured left foot. Mine have not been up to the task--though I'm getting there (you should see my arm/shoulder muscles; I'm so proud!). Given some of the pain that I've had in my left foot with only partial weight (the doc said I could do 1/2 weight from the git go, but my foot was too swollen and painful to do that), I cannot imagine that I'll be walking on this foot when I get this cast off. I've 9 more days.
Time to get ready for Easter Meal #1. Tomorrow will be Easter Meal #2.
You have to ensure that the image matches the expanse--height and width. Otherwise, it repeats (though you can tell it not to) or truncates. You probably do not care, but it's a bit interesting to understand what is under the hood when you look ant someone's blog.
I've one more thing to add to the blog--and that is a tabbed menu. I'm not quite ready to tackle it yet. Adding the "home" and "about" buttons required some synapses burning. Anyone who makes their living doing this stuff surely has to laugh. I don't suppose it is really that hard, but when you approach it haphazardly, it ain't so easy!
I watched today Harold and Maude. I've never seen it before. How funny to hear the Cat Steven's music. My brother had all of his music (and that of The Doors). I can still recall the lyrics to every tune for both. Interesting how music/lyrics are so easily burned on the brain. We take music on demand for granted. I think about hearing a favorite song and imagine being born during the time of Mozart, Liszt, Beethoven, Wagner or any of the other greats. You might hear a song a dozen or so times in your lifetime (if that unless you were wealthy).
I also watched last night (my husband had a neighbor visitor last evening, so I seemed to be on my own, which was fine. I always find things to do), Fur, an imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus.
I cannot really say if I really liked it. I do think that Nicole Kidman is a very gifted actress. I saw her recently in To Die For . I thought it a wonderful black comedy when I saw it before.
As part of my "Connessione" practice, I've been routinely researching the movies/TV shows that I watch to understand more about either the topic and/or the actors. I'm not a celebrity follower in the least. And perhaps my even saying that I'm doing this is causing a chuckle or two among readers. But, I've found by doing so, I'm enriching my experience rather than just watching something without awareness.
Speaking of awareness, our next book club selection is: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (Author) . Perhaps after reading this book I may go off to join the circus. I don't know that our last selection, Water for Elephants, was well received by other members. I really enjoyed the book, though others felt that it was too romanticized. I cannot quibble with that assertion However, given the gravity of the reading that the club as well as myself were doing, it seemed to be an oasis of entertainment. I think, too, that given my lack of mobility and my frustration with my physical limitations--in addition to the real danger of falling that traveling one's ordinary courses brings while navigating on crutches--reading about an elderly man's own struggle with gnarled hands, weak legs and wobbly balance was something that I identified with in a very intimate way.
I've mentioned here before what an eye-opener it has been to have to fall upon the support of arms and remaining leg to bear up under additional duress due to an injured left foot. Mine have not been up to the task--though I'm getting there (you should see my arm/shoulder muscles; I'm so proud!). Given some of the pain that I've had in my left foot with only partial weight (the doc said I could do 1/2 weight from the git go, but my foot was too swollen and painful to do that), I cannot imagine that I'll be walking on this foot when I get this cast off. I've 9 more days.
Time to get ready for Easter Meal #1. Tomorrow will be Easter Meal #2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)